By Eric Yep
Crude-oil futures traded in a narrow price range in Asia Monday
as markets weighed events in Ukraine and China's manufacturing data
that pointed to further slowing of the economy.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures
for delivery in October traded at $95.79 a barrel at 0424 GMT, down
$0.17 in the Globex electronic session. October Brent crude on
London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.02 to $103.17 a barrel.
Nymex crude ended 2.25% lower in August and Brent crude lost
2.67% during the month. Both oil benchmarks are down for two
consecutive months but recovered slightly in the final week of
August on the back of positive U.S. economic data and
Russia-Ukraine tensions.
Amid reports of further incursions by Russian soldiers into
Ukraine over the weekend, the European Union is considering further
sanctions against Moscow unless it scales back its intervention in
Ukraine.
Given the recent escalation in Ukraine, Russia is the wildcard
for the oil market, "but oil exports from the country are too
important to be targeted by sanctions so even output there is
unlikely to be disrupted," Tom Pugh, commodities economist at
Capital Economics said in a report.
"[W]e remain confident that prices have further to fall over the
medium term, with Brent dropping as low as $90 next year," he
said.
Early Monday, data showed China's official Purchasing Managers
Index fell to 51.1 in August from 51.7 in July, indicating further
softening in the country's economy that's bearish for oil
demand.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for October--the
benchmark gasoline contract--rose 66 points to $2.6295 a gallon,
while October diesel traded at $2.8605, 4 points higher.
ICE gasoil for September changed hands at $867.75 a metric ton,
up $3.00 from Friday's settlement.
Write to Eric Yep at eric.yep@wsj.com